Stop playing to grow.
That’s your investors’ game.
Stop playing to survive.
That’s playing not to lose.
Start playing to win.
And play your own game.
Tag: Survival
Business is not a war
Business
is often compared
to a war.
There are
competitions.
Founders
feel hurt in the process.
It is important
to survive.
…
But business
is also different
from a war.
Because you may win a war
by crushing the competition.
But in business
even in the absence of competition
you only win
by winning with
the customers.
Just the Way You Are
Despite grieving
their lost youth.
Despite feeling
unworthy
in front of their employees.
Despite lacking
a mere one good night’s sleep.
There are those who are willing
to light themselves up
again
and again
and again
in the crucible
of responsibility.
Customer complaints,
Employee demands,
Investor rejections.
All that is said
may well be right.
And yet
the weight,
the burden,
the load,
is one
and the same.
…
It is a haze
that last moment of breath.
If a mere 10 minutes
may we put it all down
to let out a big
sigh.
Despite the tightening of our chest.
Despite the sight
of our inflated belly
that we may despise
May we feel that sense
of fulfillment
arise from within.
You’re a miracle
for having survived til now.
You’ve done well
for having stayed alive
breathing.
I’m proud of you
just the way
you are.
In Praise of Survival
In startup circles,
there is wide-spread worship
of “growth.”
The lure of building a company worth $1 billion,
known as a “unicorn,”
looms large.
In contrast,
we often hear people demean survival,
with phrases like “mere survival is not enough,
we must thrive!”
…
The reality is that building a company
often feels like being in a war.
Not because we’re in a competition,
but because we get hurt,
—emotionally—
often to significant degrees.
And what I find interesting
is that when I help founders recover
from these emotional wounds,
I often see them naturally grow—
their minds,
their hearts,
and their relationships.
The kind of growth made possible
precisely because they got hurt.
Just as our muscles grow
by getting hurt
then recovering,
perhaps we can also grow,
by recovering.
By surviving.
By living.
By telling the God of death,
“Not today.”